, 1887-11-03
4oaseeLEsH EATERS IN NEW YORK.
a Butcher Whose Customers Arc the
Park Birds and Beasts.

the building. The passage opened into
a large square room lighted by spacious
open doors on botiI sides. The wood floor
was stained a dull red. This is the
slaughter room, where the horses are
killed and cut up for the animals at the
arsenal at Central park. On a couple of
hooks IN one side of the room hung por-
tons of a carcass like the quarters of a
beef. AT a glance one who was not an
expert in raw meat would have said this
was beef, but the horse butcher pointed
out that the meat was CT a deeper color
and a closer grain than beef. Horse
meat is, he said, as he could state from
personal knowledge, equally as good as
beef when young and tender. There was
a peculiar flavor to horse meat, he added,
that some people liked better than beef.
and the lions and tigers were fond of it,
but for himself he preferred a good piece
of porterhouse steak every time.
In n corner of the room was a re-
frigerator, where the meat is kept until
it is required. The skin of the last horse
who had been killed a few days before
lay on the other side of the room. He
was n bakers horse, the butcher ex-
planned. and his hair had beer yellow.
Everything was as neat and Clearly and
free from faint as a butchers shop could
he. The %chopping block was washed and
as tidy as a kitchen table. The ~cleaver,
the saw and the small knives, shining
bright and sharp, hung In their places be-
side the butchers apron. About two
years ago the park authorities adopted
the plan of supplying the c%arnivorous
animals in the menagerie with horse
meat instead of beef. The measure was
-,-,1 -. D..~ n.
found difficulty at times in obtaining
good beef or mutton, and the prices
ranged from twelve to eighteen cents.
In Europe the animals in the geological
collections are fed horses flesh, and he
advised the commissioner TO make the
trial here. President Borden became in.
terested and the brick building was fitted
up as a stable and butcher shop, with a
result that has justified the outlay. From
$40 to S15 are paid for horses, the butcher
is hired by the park board and the actual
cost of the meat is now about three or
three and one-half cents a pound.
About two horses on an average are
killed each week. They are rarely old
horses, as might be supposed, but usually
those which have given out from some
cause. Before they are accepted a veter-
mary surgeon makes a careful examina-
ton of the animal to ascertain if it is free
from disease. There Is no difficulty in
securing all that are needed by the city,
and usually two or three are kept in the
stalls, some of them to be fattened before
they are killed. From the ceiling near
the center of the room o rope hung down
from n heavy staple. The horses are led
through the passage from the stable into
the slaughter room when they are to be
killed.
''How do you kill them?' was asked.
Thu horse butcher picked up a short
handled, heavy hammer and said: Horses
die easy. When bring them out here |
ties q cloth round their heads, SO that IL
blinds them, and they are so quiet you
al do anything with them. Then l
fasten tn rope from the ceiling around
the brute's neck, and one heavy blow
from the hammer is gener'ly enough. If
you would like to come around tomorrow
morning I'll show you how l do it. 1t is
h%ootcherin' day tomorrow and old Dob
bin will have to go; that's the gray one
you saw in there"
The reporter declined the invitation.
makes you kinder sick, l guess. J
added the butcher.
"Well, l didn't like it myself when +
began, though l was used to %butcherin'
cattle, but horses 'peared so different.
You get used to it, though. The worst
is when some horse that's done good SER
vice gives out, and the people who bring
him here feel SO bad to give him up. But
they say they would rather have the
horse killed han sell him, where he may
be starved or beaten. Sometimes a
woman comes up crying and makes me
give back the horse. Once 1 had a little
bay mare that the surgeon operated on
and she got well. You never saw any
body SO tickled in your life as the lady
and tho children were when l told them,
and they took her back again. Most of
the animals are pretty badly knocked out
when they come here. Them stone
pavements is KILN on horses. 1t gives
them the 'quitters,' a swellin' around
the ankles, and they amt good for much
after hat Now, there's an animal in
that wagon u there, in which I'm going
to take the meat over for the lions din
ner. You never saw such a shadder as
that big horse was when he was fetched
in here last spring with a bad hoof. He
looked sick and l kept him a month,
cause | thought he wouldn't be good to
feed the animals, though the doctor said
| llt SOullu. 1hGh Ills IOOl DtSdn W
heal and he picked up. Now you can
Jest see that he limps a little; he's as
strong us an elephant and as healthy"
The horse meat was piled into the
wagon and the rescued horse proved his
good character by the gait which he took
il drawing the vehicle through the park
to the arsenal. The keepers divided up
the joints of the bakers yellow horse"
among the hyenas, the lions and the
tigers, who crushed the bones and pol
ished them with gusto. To the eagles
chunks of flesh weighing a pound Ur
more were thrown and were quickly
dragged away by them in their talons.
THE bones" said the horse butcher,
pointing to several barrels, ''are saved
and go to the bone man. They are pretty
well cleaned when he gets 'em. Last
month 1 had a horse that had beer a
trotter, but 1 couldn't git any flesh on his
bones. lie was a tough one and no dis
count. 1 dulled my knives cuttin' him
up Them ions Jciewed on him till their
jaws wa tired and hung down. MIR.
Conklin says to me: What kind of meat
are you givin' the animals?' 1 says: It's
the t%rotter;' then he didn't say no more"
~ III